Kimi Raikkonen in his McLaren MP4-20 beat Fernando Alonso's
Renault by three thousands of a second to take provisinal pole
position for the Imola San Marino Grand Prix 2005 on Sunday.

Te final pole and race grid positions will be decided after
Sunday morning's second qualifying at the Enzo and Dino
Ferrari race track at Imola.

Michael Schumacher in his new Ferrari F2005 placed third in
first qualifying, his best qualifying so far.

India's Narain Karthikeyan, in his ageing Jordan EJ15, put in
a spirited performance acording to F1 websites and
commentators. However, all that spunk and spirit was just not
enough, and he placed 17th, two seconds ahead of his teammate
Tiago Monteiro. Both the Jordans were modified for handling
and aerodynamics. During Friday's free practice, both Narain
karthikeyan and Tiago Moneiro had lost control of their cars
and spun, losing valuable time to get used to the highly
technical Imola track, where the race happens in a
counter-clockwise direction, and the drivers have to ride the
kerbs when cornering to maintain speed. The new Minardi PS05s
- with radical design - were almost a second adrift of the
Jordans.

All eyes are on tommorows qualifying now - as Micahel
Schumacher is expected to try really hard for a pole position
here, as winning at Imola is very important for Ferrari. A
pole position ust might make it easier for him. It is
considered a home Grand Prix for Ferrari, and Tifosi (Italian
Ferrari fans) who land up in massive numbers will not like it
too much is Ferrari doesn't perform.

Kimi Raikkonen's lap in the McLaren was commendable today, as
the last few races showed that they had a car that was very
fast during the race,but could never quite get a good timing
during Qualifying. The first Qualifying at Imola has hopefully
changed that, and may make them a serious contendor for F1
205.

Giancarlo Fisichella, winner of the Australian Formula One
race is racing with a more powerful and lighter version of the
Renault engine which is expcted to be faster. However, a bit
of oversteer and a twitch left him far behind.